{"id":20192,"date":"2012-08-20T03:42:30","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T07:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=20192"},"modified":"2013-04-03T23:44:33","modified_gmt":"2013-04-04T03:44:33","slug":"congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressman Akin say he misspoke on \u201clegitimate rape\u201d comment"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Congressman Todd Akin of Missouri\u00a0is seeking to win the Missouri U.S.\u00a0Senate seat in the election this fall. To do that, he will have to beat incumbent Claire McCaskill. When the issue of whether or not abortion should be legal when a pregnancy is a result of rape was raised in an interview on Sunday, many thought Akin\u2019s answer was insensitive to the issue.<\/p>\n

He said that pregnancy as a result of rape is \u201creally rare,\u201d explaining<\/a>, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. \u2026 But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. You know I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”<\/p>\n

Senator McCaskill condemned<\/a> Akin\u2019s statement which seemingly classified some rape as “legitimate”, saying, \u201cThe ideas that Todd Akin has expressed about the serious crime of rape and the impact on its victims are offensive.\u201d \u00a0She using this to garner support for her campaign, and even has a fundraising webpage set up<\/a>\u00a0to “beat Todd Akin and his anti-women policies.” President Obama condemned Akin’s statement<\/a>,\u00a0\u201c[t]he idea that we should be parsing, qualifying, slicing what types of rape we\u2019re talking about doesn\u2019t make sense to the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it’s not only his opponent that has expressed views condemning the statement. \u00a0Fox News reported<\/a> that Presidential candidate Romney stated that Akin’s comment was “insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong.” Fox News also reported<\/a> that if Akin remains in the race, the $5 million he was expecting from the GOP will not be made available to him.<\/p>\n

Later on Sunday, Akin released a statement<\/a> clarifying his views on the seriousness of rape:<\/p>\n

As a member of Congress, I believe that working to protect the most vulnerable in our society is one of my most important responsibilities, and that includes protecting both the unborn and victims of sexual assault. \u00a0In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year. \u00a0Those who perpetrate these crimes are the lowest of the low in our society and their victims will have no stronger advocate in the Senate to help ensure they have the justice they deserve.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He also however, is not backing down on his<\/a> stand to protect the unborn, realizing that it may cost him some votes:<\/p>\n

I recognize that abortion, and particularly in the case of rape, is a very emotionally charged issue. \u00a0But I believe deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action. I also recognize that there are those who, like my opponent,\u00a0support abortion and I understand I may not have their support in this election.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarifications<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":20252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCongressman Akin say he misspoke on \u201clegitimate rape\u201d comment - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congressman Akin say he misspoke on \u201clegitimate rape\u201d comment - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Clarifications\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-20T07:42:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-04-04T03:44:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Akin.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"574\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"321\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Heidi Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Heidi Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Heidi Miller\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/31ef29343a5c21e4507f76129f2497ae\"},\"headline\":\"Congressman Akin say he misspoke on \u201clegitimate rape\u201d comment\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-20T07:42:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-04T03:44:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment\/\"},\"wordCount\":497,\"commentCount\":8,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/congressman-akin-say-he-misspoke-on-legitimate-rape-comment\/\",\"name\":\"Congressman Akin say he misspoke on \u201clegitimate rape\u201d comment - 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